1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet processing system which is enabled to execute a plurality of jobs in parallel by combining a plurality of sheet processing devices arbitrarily.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, there has been provided a sheet processing system, in which a sheet stacker, an inserter, a finisher and so on are connected in series with an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine so that it can process the sheets from a printing process or an image forming process to a bookbinding process including special sheet inserting, folding and stapling operations.
A sheet processing system of this kind according to the related art is shown in FIG. 32.
In JP-A-2003-89473, there is disclosed an image forming system, in which a plurality of sheet post-processing devices are connected to an image forming apparatus. FIG. 32 is a schematic sectional view showing one example of the image forming system of the related art schematically. An image forming system B, as shown in FIG. 32, is provided with a document feeder 1100, an image forming apparatus 1000 having an image reader 1200 and a printer 1300, a buffer module 1400, a folder 1500 and a finisher 1600.
In this image forming system B, however, the folder 1500 or the finisher 1600 cannot be used while the sheets are being conveyed for a job from the printer 1300 to the buffer module 1400. The execution of another job has to await the end of the aforementioned job. This lowers the working efficiency of the entire system seriously.